The Australian Women's Register

Coralie Joy Rockwell undertook her tertiary studies at the University of Sydney, receiving an Honours degree in music in 1966 and a Diploma of Education in 1967. Coralie won a scholarship to UCLA and completed a Masters Degree in ethnomusicology in 1969.

After returning to Sydney, Coralie sang alto with the Leonine Consort, the Sydney University Renaissance Players and the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) in the 1960s and 1970s. She taught at high schools and colleges in Sydney and Canberra, and was instrumental in the foundation of the first non-Western music course at the Canberra School of Music, where she also taught.

She undertook research in Indonesia and South Korea, specialising in the kayagum (12-string zither). In 1975 Coralie returned to Canberra to study Chinese and later completed the Chinese major at CCAE. She spent three years with her husband Michael Sawer in Shanghai and Beijing, teaching English, studying Chinese language and researching Chinese music. From 1988 to 1990 she undertook doctoral research at the University of Sydney. Sadly, this work remains incomplete.

Coralie was an active member of the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA), serving as President of its ACT Chapter from 1987 until 1989. She worked hard to forge links with the Shanghai Conservatorium, and to establish a gamelan ensemble at the School of Music and ANU, linked with the Indonesian Embassy. She also published widely and contributed to various MSA conferences, seminars and publications.

After her death in 1991, the Coralie Rockwell Foundation was formed and raised funds to purchase an Indonesian gamelan orchestra for the Canberra School of Music.